July 19th 2009

Forgotten Veterens Run

Hosted by "Warrior Brotherhood."
Today I went on a ride that started in Gig Harbor at the Olympic Village parking lot. This ride is the 3rd one that this club has put on. They raise funds to support a couple Veteren's homes, mostly guys that suffer P.T.S.S. or substance abuse.This outfit didn't spend a lot ot time planning this by the looks of it. They did have "entertainment" at the beginning of the run. Sorta different stuff, if you know what I mean.

There was one guy there named Peter. He rode in on a 1935 Harley Davidson Knucklehead.

It was a fun thing to see, but if it were mine, I would keep up the AAA membership.

The ride started at 10:45 hrs. We left the parking lot and got right onto SR16 heading west. There were about 115 bikes on this ride.The ride was a short one, lasting 51 miles. We ended up taking SR16 to Gorst, then taking Hwy 3 up past Silverdale a short distance, turning off and taking backroads around to Legend Harley in Silverdale.

The weather was very nice and it is always fun to go for a ride with guys. My neighbor Kevin went with me. It was a nice easy run.

Of course once we got to Legend, they had burgers and music, like they always do.
After a burger and the 50/50 drawing, I headed back home. The grass needed mowing.

July 13th 2009

This morning was wet. When I got up and looked out of the window I saw that it had been raining here at Port Ludlow. We decided to go down the road a ways before having breakfast. The sky was foggy a bit dreary.

I went out and wiped down my bike with towels from our room.

Port Ludlow Resort:

I put my rain suit back on again thie morning for the trip home. We decided to stop at Clearwater Casino for lunch.

The buffet at the Casino was very good. After lunch we took the short jaunt home.

I put 549 miles on the bike this weekend.

July 12th 2009

Memorial Ride day two.

Several folks set out this morning on a variety of routes home. I elected to take the long way, which took me to Winthrop, Over the North Cascades Highway, down to Edmonds, across Puget Sound to Kingston, then the Hood Canal Bridge, to Port Ludlow and on to dinner with my wife who was waiting for me there.

The weather was varied along the way today. Things were humid this morning in Wenatchee. We set out at just after 9:00 AM and made our way along to Winthrop. Where we gassed up again.

It was a bit warm there, but not too bad (for me). We ate at Three fingered Jacks (like we always do). After lunch, the Lerum clan wanted to stay in town and poke around a bit. Mike, Keven (my neighbor) and I decided to leave the window shoppers and strike out on our own. We drove along Highway 20 with about a thousand tourists. Some of them were down-and-out safety hazards!

We had a couple spots of rain along the way, some of it right up on the top of "Rainy Pass." We rode out of the rain for awhile then back into it right around Diablo Lake. Good scenery there. Kevin had never been there, so we stopped and took a picture or two.We ran out of the rain again until we got to Darrington. At Darrington, we had large rain drops. Some of them seemed as large as basket balls. Most normal men wouldn't have been able to handle it, but we took it in stride.

The temperature dropped when we got to the Western side of the mountains and the weather looked threatening for those following behind us. The storm was blowing in their direction. We were glad we hadn't waited around in Winthrop.
Mike led us to the ferry dock at Edmonds and I put my bike at a ferry for the very first time. Then I went upstairs and had some hot chocolate because I was pretty cold. I had my rain jacket on over a tee shirt, but that jacket isn't very warm. After going back down to the bike at the end of the ferry run, I put another jacket on under the rain jacket. That was warmer and I was OK. After leaving the ferry, we split off from my neighbor Kevin, who continued on to Gig Harbor and his home. Mike and I crossed the Hood Canal Bridge. Port Ludlow was just a few miles past the bridge and I peeled off and left Mike on his own once we reached that point. I pulled into the resort and joined my wife. I dumped my stuff in the room and took a hot bath before dinner: Halibut with steamed potatoes and a bottle of white wine. It was grand.

I caught my wife up on the details of my weekend and we enjoyed the rest of the evening discussing this and that. It was a nice end to my day.

July 11th 2009

Today my Motorcycle club hosted our annual Memorial Ride. Our ride goes to Wenatchee the first night where we will have dinner and a party. The club secured several raffle prizes. If I have my numbers right, we had 84 riders and passengers this year.

First off we had to his Marcia's Silver Spoon (they are one of our sponsors). After a waffle and a couple links, I was ready for anything. We chewed the fat and we sat there having a grand old time until my cell phone rang. It was Jimmy Bass wondering where we were. He was at the station doing what we were supposed to. We jumped up and headed for the bikes, and beat feet to the station. Better late than never (so I have heard).
After setting up tables, selling tickets and greeting all the folks to showed up, we "hit the trail" so to speak. We had a couple police units stop traffic for us so we could all make it through the traffic lights in "one piece."Kerry and Fog were in the lead and they had a hard time keeping their speed even. It drove me nuts I have to say. We went along like an inch worm, fast then slow, etc etc. Other than that, the ride was a lot of fun. I cranked up my country music and got "in the zone." We made our way to the first stop which was North Bend. That is roughly an hour from the beginning. I snapped a couple pictures of the bikes in the parking lot. Some of the guys I hadn't seen since last years ride. It's always nice to talk to the retired guys to see what they are up to.
After a 20 minute break we set off again. We attracted a lot of attention going over Snoqualmie Pass. People were waving and we were having a great time. the weather was gorgous. The next stop was Ele Elum. This was on the East side of the pass and it was getting warm. Somewhere in the high 80's I would guess.

Another hour or so and we landed in Wenatchee. Mike and I had been riding behind Fog most of the way. Once or twice he looked like he fell asleep or something. Maybe we need to send him back through the motor course again... (possibly he was trying to avoid deer or something that no one else could see). The weather was sunny and hot. My wife would have not had a good time here. Mike Romaine and my neighbor Kevin split off from the crowd and had lunch at the Red Robbin (with lots of ice tea to go with it). Mike had to pick up a red rose for the ceremony later in the evening so we stopped at Albertson's to get-r-done.
After a tank of gas we made it to the Red Lion where we held our party. I had a couple hours to kill before we needed to get to work on setting things up. I hit the showers to wash off the road dirt. that gave me just enough of a pick me up to want to play along at the party.
The party was a catered buffet with a DJ, social hour, memorial service for our fallen officers, and lots and lots of raffle prizes. It was a pretty fun time. Of course before we got started, the club members had to have a short get-together so we could obsess over overy last detail. I just wanted a beer.

Sgt Joseph arrived and presented out Memorial Ceremony. It was a moving thing. Sgt Joseph is one of my good buddies. The ceremony really added a nice touch to our party. It reminded us of the reason we had a party in the first place.

After the ceremony, we had our drawings . Fog and Dunna did a good job up there. They kept things entertaining.

After all of the raffle prizes had been given out, the music continued and folks danced way past my bed time. I had to go hick the rack. I had a full day.